Tom Cruise's New Zealand set for Mission: Impossible 6

Newly released images reveal the South Island movie set soon to be graced by Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise.

The big budget blockbuster Mission: Impossible 6 is set to be shot in the Rees Valley near Glenorchy later this year.

Filming began on April 8 and was announced by director Christopher McQuarrie with this tweet:

Cruise, 54, was seen filming scenes this week in Paris, waving to fans as he rehearsed a high octane speed boat sequence, reported The Daily Mail.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the sixth instalment in the series isn't due for release until the middle of next year.

The film's other stars include Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin,
Sean Harris and Henry Cavill.

Cruise spent several months in Taranaki filming The Last Samurai in 2003.

The star is known for doing all of his own stunts in the Mission: Impossible movie series, including abseiling down high rise buildings and being strapped to the side of a plane.

Skydance Media CEO David Ellison recently said the sixth instalment would "top anything that's come before" and revealed Cruise has been in training for a year in preparation for the role.

"It is going to be, I believe, the most impressive and unbelievable thing that Tom Cruise has done in a movie, and he has been working on it since right after Rogue Nation came out," Ellison told Collider.

"It's gonna be mind-blowing."

The film is being shot in Paris, London, India and New Zealand.

Mission: Impossible 6 is due for release on July 27, 2018.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.